Boom Clap
by Italian Skunk
Summary: Back when Antonio first got his cast off, she hadn't really cared. But now that she thought about it, with it being Christmas and her mind whirling with thoughts, she'd never known the feeling, of breaking something. She'd never broken anything, not until now, because how many hearts would truly be left in her wake?


**AGOSTO**

_Take a deep breath, you idiot. Just keep walking. You can cry when you lock the three locks of your bedroom door._

When the hospital door finally closed behind her, Chiara remained where she stood, clutching a single packet of papers to her chest in nimble little hands. A deep breath, just like she told herself to and she stepped away from the hospital. One step, two, and three…

She jumped with a sputtering "_Ah_!" as someone ran into her. Whoever it was, they jolted back and started to collapse, but staggered for balance. Chiara cast her gaze, alive with anger and just plain unhappiness, on him. She eyed him head to toe, from fluffy, messy, curly chocolate brown hair to the arm covered in the wrappings of a well-signed blue cast, down to the converse sneakers that were colored with different fabric markers and littered in a light dusting of mud. Her attention snapped back up to his face, slim, mature, but his lips held a sheepish, forgiving grin she assumed only he could manage. His green eyes were bright with all of the apologies he had yet to mutter, before widening at her.

"Whoa, are you okay?" He asked. "And can't have this flying away either,"

"Just fine," she grumbled as her heartbeat and bubbling anger both slowed back to normal. After a moment, she snatched her packet out of his hands. She hadn't noticed dropping it during their… run-in, nor him picking it up.

They stood in an awkward silence on the not-so-crowded sidewalk by the No Parking sign, Chiara was waiting for the moment when this complete stranger would finally give her an "_Adios_," and disappear to wherever he was off to, but she didn't expect him to reach for her wrist.

"What are you doing-?!" she began to exclaim, alarm filling her voice as she tried to get away.

"Please, come with me, uh, to the hospital so I can get my cast off. Then…" he seemed frantic for a moment, as if he hadn't planned anything through. "Let me treat you to dinner, for bumping into you like that."

"I don't _know_ you, it's _weird_." she emphasized, though didn't notice he was already pulling her out of the direction she had been going, caused her to completely forget about going home to hide the papers, to sleep off _everything_ of that day. "Please, just don't do this, I want to go home, not go somewhere with someone who just ran into me like the idiot they are."

"It'll be fun, I want to be friends with you too!" he said.

Her brown ankle boots were scuffing as she tried to get away, wishing to forget this too. After a couple minutes of muttered insults, excuses, and struggling, the hospital closing in, Chiara spoke up again. "At least tell me your name." she finally agreed, the tone of her voice easily telling she would regret this later.

He laughed, lightly, ignoring her attitude. "Antonio. And yours?"

"… Chiara… Vargas."

And they disappeared inside.

Chiara stood up fromthe_ stupid, ass-aching, dark gray, plastic piece of shit_ she'd been forced to sit on for the second time that day while Antonio had gone somewhere in the building after signing in to get that black-and-blue cast off of his arm. It had apparently been "only God knows how long since he had last scratched it," too.

At last, Antonio appeared again, smiling and waving at her once he saw her. Chiara stood, brushed off whatever could have gotten onto her flowing dress that was the color of the cherry _Laffy Taffy _candy, and walked to be at his side. He signed out and they left, discussing where to eat, Antonio very happily, and Chiara not contributing much at all.

They walked until reaching a small café, one they had both heard of, but never got the chance to go and see what it was like. A small bell chimed above them as they entered, their eyes widening, captivated. White Christmas lights trailed from the walls, looping, twisting about by the ceiling, below them hanging paintings of cities like London, Paris, and Rome, and portraits of people that could only be assumed as family. The tables had white clothes, a small decoration of flowers and a candle in the middle, menus too. At the counter, a small glass case holding baked goods for people and a basket of goody-bagged dog treats beside it. Music, soft, comforting, drifted from somewhere.

They took a seat at a table for two.

While they ate, both with some dinner dish or other that was on the menu and salad that had been changed to their satisfactions, they talked to know each other better. Antonio did say he wanted them to be friends, and Chiara had to admit she didn't have a lot of… _those_.

Chiara learned that Antonio was born in Spain but came to America when he was very young. He learned English, but also some Spanish from his family, and had been back to Spain every other year, last year being the most recent. He had no siblings, simply resided in a house with his mother, father, and grandmother. He was eighteen, or _dieciocho_, as he had let slip out on accident. She didn't mind the Spanish words that mixed into what he said, it fell into the soft music well, relaxing and becoming a lullaby to her somewhere deep down. Antonio played guitar, liked photography, and wouldn't mind a good _siesta_ if the days became too tough for him.

And he learned some of the same things. Chiara was born in America, but spent some years in Italy, vacationed in Spain twice at some point during her stays at the peninsula. She grew up knowing Italian and English, but very little Spanish. She had a younger sister, Daisy, who was like a twin to her in looks but not in personality, and they lived with their _Nonno_, and Chiara said that the two of them would get along well if they ever met. She was seventeen, while Daisy was sixteen. Antonio discovered that she had played violin, once upon a time, and liked photography, writing, with a dash of singing and dancing. Her family also had a cat, Gino, who liked the sisters equally, but Chiara had told Antonio that Gino liked her more than the little sister who found him.

This led to the two of them exchanging numbers.

They finished their drinks, purchased some treats, because she just knew that Daisy would have liked something while she was out like she always did, and split the amount between them.

Antonio was humming a song that had played in the café very lightly under his breath, Chiara walking beside him. She was telling him where to go; because he just wouldn't stop asking if he could take her home as it was getting dark. Chiara was silent, feeling numb after the true happiness that had invaded her while with Antonio.

"Is this your house?" he asked, breaking her out of her thoughts, of reaching down to her boot to see if the packet was still there where she had tucked it away, folded up. She answered him with a nod, before glancing around.

"Could I ask you something?"

"… You just did."

"No, that isn't what I meant, Chiara."

"Then what did you-!" she began.

He looked her dead in the eye, holding her hands in his.

"… Why didn't you tell me you were dying?"

* * *

><p><strong>SEPTIEMBRE<strong>

The sky was a beautiful, angry gradient ranging from a dark blue at one end towards a pink-white where the sun was setting. The clouds were a dull violet-gray, fading away with the _el sol_, as Antonio told her it was called in Spanish. They were lying in the backyard of her house, side by side, staring up at the sky. Daisy and their _Nonno_ were inside cleaning up what was left of dinner, and they'd gone outside when discovering there was nothing good on the stations they normally watched shows on.

"You okay?" Antonio whispered, tipping onto his side to look at Chiara.

Chiara remained in her same position, arms crossed behind her head, legs balanced atop of the other at the ankles. She was barefoot. Chiara turned her head slowly, tearing her gaze away from the stars that were beginning to trickle out into their sight. "… _Estoy bien_…" she answered in a murmur, hesitantly, trying her tongue at Spanish.

He smiled faintly, though warmly.

"Alright," he replied, pulling her close to him after seeing a shiver send goose bumps rising to her skin. She sent him a look of annoyance, having been disturbed, and attempted to get out of his arms, but that soon proved to be useless, so she turned back to the sky.

"The stars are coming out," she breathed after several minutes of silence.

"It's getting dark quicker… colder…" Antonio noted hesitantly.

"That means autumn is coming, at last." Chiara added quietly. "I like autumn… I get to break out a new pair of boots, some new sweaters and sweatpants. I can buy peppermint hot chocolate and pumpkin spice lattes, roast pumpkin seeds with Daisy, and carve them with her too. We burn candy apple candles too, and we have to stop the other from swiping at the cinnamon and sugar batter…"

Antonio smiled.

The sky had deepened into a cold navy blue, dotted with wisps of silvery clouds, the moon a single cat claw off to the side. Stars twinkled, twirled, and simply danced from where they dotted the ocean of night sky. They reflected in Chiara's eyes.

Antonio sighed lightly. He imagined his friend walking down a rain-drenched street mottled with fallen leaves in red to orange to purple. She wore a big yellow-orange sweater, dark jeans ripped at the knees, and her pair of boots that had golden flower charms attached to the zippers. In her hands was a steaming peppermint hot chocolate, a dull orange beanie capturing her flyaway auburn curls.

"I want the two of you to come in now, it's getting late!"

"Alright, we will, _Nonno_!" Chiara called back to the man at the door. She pressed her hands into the dew-tipped grass, pushing herself up into sitting. She looked back to Antonio. "Come on," she grumbled. He sat up as well.

And kissed her.

Chiara was surprised, her eyes growing wide before slowly, they fluttered shut and she leaned into the kiss.

"I love you," Antonio whispered after they broke apart.

"… What?"

Her heartbeat was quick, like the wings of a little hummingbird.

"We've only known each other for a month, but last Saturday… I realized that I love you." He explained, stammering and trying to do some weird hand gesture. Chiara leaned close to him, just enough to brush her lips against his. But deep down, in the both of them, pounded and thrashed and rushed a river of fear.

"You need to shut up, you dumbass… I-I… I love you too, I think…" she murmured, the crickets' song and faint purr of a car's engine turning on a few houses over mingling with her voice.

They kissed again.

Antonio took the lead coming into the house by the back door in the kitchen, Chiara scurrying after him. Her smile was faint, just bending the corners of her lips. She felt feelings that were light and fluffy, like the fresh cotton candy from the circus, and ones that bubbled, crackled, and fizzed like ice cubes dropping into a fresh glass of Dr. Pepper on a hot summer day.

Daisy smiled when they came in.

* * *

><p><strong>OCTUBRE<strong>

Chiara had gotten what she had wished for, back when she and Antonio had been outside gazing at the stars in September. She was wearing a new pair of boots that were black, and Antonio had talked her into getting a pair of flower charms too. She was wearing a red long sleeve shirt with a black vest, a silvery-white beanie resting atop her head.

"Are we there yet?" Daisy asked quietly, looking from her sister to Antonio.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking for!" Antonio laughed.

Chiara rolled her eyes before looking out her window. Of course, she would always drive her sister to pick out a pumpkin or two, so knew what to look for. "… Stop the car, bastard! We're here."

Antonio parked off to the side of the dirt road, the engine slowing to a purr, to nothing at all, and they got out. They walked to a wooden stand, one that reminded Antonio of the little stands that lined the boardwalk at a beach he'd gone to a few years back along the East Coast.

They were led to a patch of pumpkins, bright orange hidden amongst curling vines and leaves. The man who brought them out helped them pick out good pumpkins, separating them from their stems, and in which he carried the sisters' back to the stand while Antonio carried his own. They were weighed, which determined their prices, but they weren't very expensive, and paid for. The same man helped bring them to Antonio's car and wished them good luck for carving ideas.

Antonio, Chiara, and Daisy soon made it home, stumbling into the doorway to the Vargas household with their pumpkins. But when they came to the kitchen, they found a note from their grandfather that he had to leave for some last minute business across the state and would be gone for a couple of weeks, but was upset he wouldn't make it for any roasted pumpkin seeds or to see their carved pumpkins before they would begin rotting. He wanted Antonio to watch over his two granddaughters if it wasn't a problem. But the sisters were fine with it, as it happened often with Grandpa Vargas having to go away.

Chiara made a quick batch of hot chocolate for the three of them, and they settled down at the kitchen table, Gino trailing in after them a few minutes later, with a pumpkin in front of them. They each had a set of knives and a pencil to sketch the designs. Their faces were lit with the glow of their cell phones as they searched from Google Images to Pinterest for ideas. Eventually Chiara, Antonio, and Daisy found something that pleased them and set to work.

Pandora played loudly as the tops of the pumpkins were cut off and the glop inside of them was scooped out and set off to the side. The time it took for all of that ended at different times, but they were all soon sketching away their final ideas.

Daisy went all out and try-hard, so she had gone ahead designed a merry-go-round for her pumpkin, Chiara decided on an intricately drawn owl after taking a liking to all of the results of them Google brought up, and Antonio worked on a simple classic cat – debating on whether to add a little heart beside it like the dork he was, too - since he didn't want do anything "too difficult" like the sisters.

They sipped at their hot chocolate and sang to the music that was playing as they sketched and carved.

"And I'm done," Antonio remarked, punching out the heart-shaped piece of pumpkin with one of his knives. He reached into the hole at the top and snatched it up; tossing it to the pile of the other pieces that had been taken out of their pumpkins.

"Oh! Lemme see!" Daisy requested, pausing in her work. She strained to look over her pumpkin to look at her sister's boyfriend's carving. "That's really cute, 'Tonio! I like the little heart,"

"You're such a jerk, you know that? Going and taking the easy way out of carving a pumpkin to finish faster, _sei ridicolo_." Chiara commented. But they just knew that she thought it was simply adorable.

"I'll start on the seeds then," Antonio chuckled, standing up and picking up the tray of guts, carrying their soon-to-be roasted seeds to the kitchen counter.

Not too long after, Chiara and Daisy finished and helped Antonio with the seeds ["_How the hell_ did she do a _merry-go-round_ in like two and a half hours?"]. They had two trays of seeds from their three pumpkins, and prepared them with a drizzle of melted butter and salt. Their treat was left in the oven to bake until they all deemed the seeds a rich golden-brown color.

Now, leaving them to cool, they cleaned up their pumpkins a bit.

"_Sorella_, could you get some plates? We can set the pumpkins on them and take them outside!" Daisy requested, beaming a bright smile at her sister. Chiara gave her a look, before a soft sigh, and allowed a faint smile to touch her lips as she stood and went to one of several cupboards for three plates.

She stood tiptoe to grasp the plates that would be of right size, and grabbed three. They fell to the kitchen floor with a crash, glass splashing around her. Gino dashed out of the kitchen, disappearing It seemed as though Chiara had meant to do it, shaking slightly as she stared down at the mess she made. Antonio's eyes widened and it made Daisy extremely startled and confused.

"I don't want this…" Chiara whispered, hands clenching into fists, hair curtaining her face. Tears shimmered in her apple green eyes, pricking the corners of them and sliding down her cheeks. She collapsed to her knees, shards of glass digging into her skin but she didn't care much about it.

"… What… _Sorella_…" Daisy stammered, eyes filling with fear.

Chiara, after a minute, seemed to give Antonio a small nod. _Tell her, tell her, break her heart, don't tell her. Oh God…_

"Daisy…" Antonio began, trying to figure out where to go from there. "Please… go to your room. I'll be up in a bit, okay?"

Daisy remained for a minute, her wide honey-amber eyes flickering from her crying sister to Antonio. She wrung her hands, pivoting and running up the stairs to her room. A door slammed shut in response.

Antonio then, swooped to the ground. He pulled Chiara into his lap, wrapping his arms around her shaking body. He rubbed her back as she cried, kissed her forehead and wiped away her tears.

"I don't want to die, 'Tonio. I don't want to leave them; I don't want to leave you… God make it stop, _damnit_." she whispered, hands clutching his shirt tightly.

"Just calm down, sweetheart," he murmured. "Don't work yourself up, not now please." Antonio ran his fingers through her hair, holding her close. "You'll be alright,"

The two of them remained like that for a while, sitting together in silence as her sobbing faded into sniffling to hiccups. He rubbed her back, still, his face pressed into her hair. She kept her head tucked against his chest, listening to the beating of his heart playing with the faint music of Pandora. He only left her to turn it off, and to get a First Aid kit to treat the cuts on her hands and knees.

Antonio cleaned the cuts after clearing away any and all glass from the plates, and bandaged them. He carried her upstairs, humming a melody only for her to loll her into a doze.

He nudged open the door to her bedroom, and placed her underneath the warm blankets of her bed. She curled up, asleep, to forget what had happened in the kitchen. Antonio stayed with her for several minutes before getting up and traveling down the hallway to Daisy's room.

He held her, like he had with Chiara, while she cried.

* * *

><p><strong>DICIEMBRE<strong>

Daisy was unsure about waking Chiara up on Christmas morning. The previous night, her sister had gone to bed earlier because she didn't feel well. But maybe since she had a good night's sleep, she'll be better! She tried to assure herself, turning the cold-touched doorknob and entering her sister's room.

Chiara was sitting on her bed, back to her sister. Music was playing on her phone, and a tube of wrapping paper was half-hidden under her blankets. She was singing along to _Centuries_ by Fall Out Boy.

"_And you're a cherry blossom, you're about to bloom. You look so pretty, but you're gone so soon_…! Oh… _Buon_ _Natale_, Daisy…" she was watching her sister over her shoulder. She peeled a piece of tape off and applied it to the corner of wrapping paper she wanted held down.

Daisy giggled. "You're just now wrapping presents? Wow, Chiara. _Nonno_ wanted me to get you for breakfast."

"I'm almost done with the last one," Chiara waved off. Daisy waited until her sister was done wrapping the present she was working on when she came in, watching her place it off to the side with a pile of others, turn off Pandora and tuck away her phone as she joined her.

They fumbled down the stairs together for breakfast, greeting their grandfather and settling down for breakfast. The sisters enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes with syrup, cinnamon, and sugar. They drank mugs of hot chocolate that warmed their paper cut, cold hands as they relaxed in the living room.

"So, _Nonno_, what did you get us?" Chiara asked innocently, because she hadn't been snooping around the past few days to try and find their presents.

"Not until this evening, when 'Tonio can make it over." Grandpa Vargas promised a twinkle in his eyes.

"No fair," the two sisters whined, Chiara more annoyed than her sister.

Antonio eventually did some, so many boring hours passing since that morning. He had presents, which the sisters had been bugging about since that morning. He was welcomed with hugs from the sisters, a warm greeting from Grandpa Vargas.

They talked for a bit, before finally agreeing on giving out presents.

The sisters went to get their presents from their rooms, and Antonio watched Grandpa Vargas take out two presents from under the dining room table. They came thundering down the steps with their arms about their presents.

"For _Nonno_," they said at the same time, handing off a present each to their grandfather. "Antonio," Antonio received his two from the girls. "And each other!"

The presents were opened. Daisy got Grandpa Vargas the first season of a TV series, and Chiara got him season two along with a photo of them together. Antonio opened Daisy's present to discover several games for his X-Box, which Chiara told her sister he had, while the present Chiara had gotten him was a photo of the two of them together. Chiara had gotten her sister a set of shirts, a pair of sweatpants, jewelry, and a photo of them together. Daisy got her a big plaid sweater, a DVD, a CD, and the next three volumes of _Kuroshitsuji_ she needed.

Grandpa Vargas' present to Daisy had been art supplies while Chiara got a new camera.

Her heart was breaking.

Antonio really didn't know what to get Grandpa Vargas as well, so got some advice from the sisters on what to get him. Chiara advised him to buy a ticket for the new art exhibit opening downtown, and Daisy agreed. So that was what he did. He got Daisy a CD and two recipe books, and Chiara a necklace. It was a heart-shaped locket, which he clasped once putting it around her neck. It had a picture of the two of them in it and a Spanish saying etched into it.

Chiara bit her lip, holding back on crying.

At the end of the night, Grandpa Vargas and Daisy retired to their rooms, while Antonio and Chiara curled up together on the couch.

She nuzzled her face into his chest, tears silently falling down her cheeks.

Back when Antonio first got his cast off, she hadn't really cared. But now that she thought about it, with it being Christmas and her mind whirling with thoughts, she'd never known the feeling, of breaking something. She'd never broken anything, not until now, because how many hearts would truly be left in her wake?

* * *

><p><strong>ENERO<strong>

Antonio jolted awake, almost falling off of the dark gray chair he was sitting on.

"Is she okay?" he asked, drowsily.

Across from him, Grandpa Vargas spoke up. "They don't want her to have any visitors just yet, but I know she'll be alright,"

Daisy was curled up at his side, face buried in her grandfather's shoulder. Tears had dried stains on her cheeks, plastered strains of russet hair to her face. From the gentle rise and fall of her breathing, she was asleep.

"Damn," Antonio sputtered. "… God, why…"

Grandpa Vargas agreed with a hum, watching his granddaughter sleep.

"Look…" he murmured sadly. "We've been keeping something from you. Chiara…-" he started.

"_Lo so_," the grandfather repeated, his face suddenly appearing tired. "I found the papers under her mattress when you two were out seeing a movie, sometime in November, I believe. I wanted to clean her room, and they were sticking out… I talked to her about it a couple days later."

"Oh…"

They sat in silence, waiting in agony.

Antonio's heart was racing, pounding in his chest as though someone was hammering a nail into a plank of wood. His mind darted back into the depths of his memories, tears of his own threatening to spill. It would have been just any other night…

Chiara was just coming back from the bathroom, heading to the living room so the family of four could return to watching the horror movie. She'd thrown up blood, as though she were part of the movie too, when she came waltzing into the room. During the frantic ride to get her help, she had told them she'd done it in the bathroom too. And when they got her to the hospital, they'd discovered it was even worse than she'd let be known.

"Could I just… if it's alright…" Antonio struggled to get out, after thinking about it for several minutes.

"Hm?"

"The day I met her, she was wearing a pink dress. And when she… whenever… it happens… could she be wearing that dress?"

Grandpa Vargas smiled something fatherly, something comforting and warm and it just fit him so well.

"Of course."

They quieted down just as Daisy began to wake up.

Eventually, a doctor came around to tell them that Chiara was allowed visitors at last, and that she'd be waking up soon, though it was what his eyes told them, that weighed them down.

They stepped into a dimly-lit hospital room that the doctor led them to, closing in on the single bed that contained Chiara. The three of them stepped around wires and machines that hummed and beeped. After a few minutes, Chiara shifted her weight, and her face screwed up.

Her green eyes opened up to the room around her, fuzzy and blurred. She felt so tired, and her head was pounding up a wonderful song only she could hear. Chiara set her attention on them, feeling the weights tied to her body beginning to pull her down.

"How do you feel?" Grandpa Vargas asked gently.

"… Li-Like…" her throat hurt. Daisy gave her a little sip of water from the bottle she got from the vending machine. Her voice still remained a whisper. "Like shit, ugh…"

They smiled, faintly. They tried their best to ignore the dying beeps, tried to cover up their breaking hearts.

Antonio held her hand, carefully. He pecked her forehead. She gave her grandfather and her sister a smile.

"I love you," she suddenly murmured to Antonio.

"I love you too, Chiara…"

She closed her apple green eyes, allowing the drumming noise to take over her thoughts.

They had never cried harder in their entire lives.

The funeral was small, and she wore that cherry Laffy Taffy pink dress.

* * *

><p><strong>FEBRERO<strong>

Antonio stared up at the moon from where he was settled on the shore of a local pond. The stars glittered and danced, though ever since that night, it seemed as though the number of stars he saw dwindled, and he liked to think Chiara snatched up her beloved night sky so she wouldn't miss the sky she'd left behind.

"… I miss you, sweetheart," he said to the stars, smiling faintly.

A streak of light tumbled across the sky, his green eyes followed it.

"I can see the stars…"

Antonio sighed, faintly. His smile grew, as tears trailed down from his eyes.

"… And I wonder if you can see them too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN - Hello! :D I got the idea for this when I heard _Boom Clap_, a song by Charlie XCX, for the wonderful _The Fault In Our Stars_, a book by John Green that I read in about three hours back in May and still have yet to see the movie. This isn't really how I first planned it out, since towards the end it got influenced by _All of the Stars_ - Ed Sheeran, _The Fault In Our Stars_, - and I totally forgot snippets of the idea when I first had it; oh well, I love it nonetheless and I hope you enjoyed it too!**

**There's some basic Spanish and Italian, but I don't think I need to put a section of translations here, but if there's something you want to know, just ask!**


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